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The Miami Dolphins mark a turning point in the 2018 season with a mediocre 4-4 record and few things on this team are moving in the right direction at the moment.
It's not so much that the team's alignment is exhausted. It's not so much that the Dolphins are in the middle of their second loss in less than two games since the start of the season.
Even starting quarterback Ryan Tannehill is not even injured and having corrected for a while (2 games, the team was lost) with the Brock Osweiler reinforcement, the Dolphins are now undergoing the dreaded but predictable decline of Osweiler .
It's just that this team got a 4-4 record starting with 3-1 and recently recorded a 1-3 record in the last month. And I think Team 1-3 is far more revealing of what the Dolphins really are than the 3-1.
So Thursday night, after the Dolphins lost 42-23 against the Houston Texans, I asked Coach Adam Gase which of these truths was the most accurate. Are the Dolphins closer to this 3-1 team from September and early October or from Team 1-3 in recent weeks?
"At the moment, we are 0-1 after today," said Gase. "It's hard to look like this. Some changes have taken place in the last two weeks: we must now re-evaluate our staffing situation, who do we have health and what adjustments do we need to make? "
The last part is easy. The Dolphins must make important and effective adjustments to their terrible defense.
The Dolphins gave up 427 yards on Thursday and it was a pain both in the race and in the process. Pass defense allowed quarterback Houston DeShaun Watson to roll five touchdown passes.
The run defense gave up 188 yards, which is awful, but that's not as bad, it's only because, four days earlier, against Detroit, the same unit had granted 248 yards rushing. .
So the defense is messy right now.
"We need to look closely at the defense and find the best way to fill in the gaps," said Gase. "How can we understand certain things and have more success against running?"
Gase was asked in his post-match press, if he was considering changing staff. And then he was specifically asked if defensive coordinator Matt Burke risked losing his job before the Dolphins played their next game against the New York Jets on Nov. 4.
"I did not even think about that," said Gase. "In my head, I do not see that happening. I'm just … we have to go back and understand what's going on, we give up that huge amount of yards in the first leg. "
Do not forget that the opposing quarterback has just launched five touchdown passes. But the defense of the Dolphins is so bad right now that it's not his biggest problem.
"I just finished the game and I'm pretty upset right now," said Gase. "I'm going to reevaluate this weekend. We had the extended weekend. We must find ways to improve our defense. We need to find a way to keep the controls and place them in the attacking zone. "
Looks like this team has problems, that's right, defense for sure. But also in attack.
And should I mention a kicking attempt next too did not work?
This game was bad on many levels for dolphins. But it was also strangely interesting.
You saw Burke who last week described the performance of his unit as "a rundown collective effort" by throwing his blue tablet coaches to see pictures of formations and games on the sidelines after DeAndre Hopkins caught up a 49-yard touchdown to give the Texans 35-20. drive. And why not?
I'm sure Burke has no point in watching what he's just seen live again.
Because it was embarrassing. I mean, guys running wide open bad. I mean, Texans using the same overloaded offensive line look as Detroit used the ball badly. And the Texans, four days later, also ran the ball with former Dolphin Lamar Miller who won 133 yards in 18 carries.
So it was a complete defensive collapse.
Offensively, it was not so bad. But this is only in comparison with the defense.
This offensive effort must be placed in the perspective that Osweiler had a whore. No, that's not what Gase said – which is curious.
That's what the statistics say and the understanding of the situation.
Consider that Osweiler had a rating of 65.3 quarts. And he launched an interception.
And he did not throw any passes as the only touchdown pass from Miami was given by receiver Danny Amendola during a round.
What is really frustrating about Osweiler's performance is that she was opposed to a defense that, at the beginning of the match, was missing a cornerback and then lost Jonathan Joseph in the first quarter.
So, Osweiler has launched against two half-turns that are a security and reserve security by the trade.
And faced with this kind of secondary patchwork, the Dolphins had 254 passing yards, one night they really needed, closer to 354 yards.
"Most of the time he did a good job getting the ball out," Gase told Osweiler. "We were trying to make sure that J.J. [Watt] and [Jadaveon] Clowney did not have a day on the field with us. Thought we had a good plan with protection.
"The game was great, we had good games and probably too many draws or negatives … We have to do a better job overall, just to make sure we can support orders and get it right. "
So where is it going?
The last three weeks suggest that the rest of the season will be a bit of a pain.
If Burke does not settle this defense before spring break, fans will want to have his head. I do not think Gase supports him so easily. Gase really appreciates Burke and even trained Burke as a defensive coordinator at the same time that he hired Vance Joseph for this position in 2016.
But after this season, if the Denver Broncos do not put order in their home (they have 3-4 today), it would not be surprising that Joseph be sent back there. And if he does, it would not be surprising if he was rehired in Miami.
This is obviously not a question of topicality.
Well, the coaching job is not. The performance on the field is really a problem at the moment.
It is assumed that Tannehill will launch soon to test his shoulder to hurl wounded. And the Dolphins still hope he can play against New York in two weekends.
It's all hope. There is no science about it. Doctors do not really do know Tannehill will be ready to play against the Jets.
And he could not?
After this match, Gase referred to the 10 days his team will have between now and their next match as a mini-bye. This weekend, the players will be absent but the coaches will work.
What will they work on? Well, the mission will be simple.
"We need to improve quickly," said Gase.
Follow Armando Salguero on Twitter: @ArmandoSalguero
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